Peirce And Theology

The author of this study invokes Peirce's logic in order to clarify the operational procedures of dialectic, foundational, and doctrinal theology. He argues that Peirce's theory of the normative sciences casts light on three forms of conversion: affective, intellectual, and moral conversion. From a normative account of the dynamics of five forms of conversion, he derives specific criteria for authenticating and calling into question both doctrinal statements about the content of religious faith and different theories of theological method. The third and final chapter tests the adequacy of the suggested criteria by applying them to the symbolic Christology of Roger Haight.

Peirce (1839-1914), the founder of philosophical pragmatism, dedicated his life to rethinking the foundations of logic. In three essays, Gelpi (Jesuit School of Theology, Berkeley) studies the implications of Peirce's thinking for the pursuit of theology by setting Peirce's logic into dialogue with Bernard Lonergan's theory of functional theological specialties. Gelpi argues that if Lonergan's flawed logic and epistemology are replaced with Peirce's logic and semiotic realism, then one can regard Lonergan's theory as an applied logic for the scholarly discipline of theology. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Donald L. Gelpi is Beckman Chair in Theology, Xavier University, Ohio. As an ordained priest, Gelpi has worked in academia for over twenty years. He has published numerous papers in scholarly journals and is the author of several books including, The Conversion Experience: A Reflective Process for RCIA Participants and Others (Paulist, 1998) and Varieties of Transcendental Experience: A Study in Constructive Post-Modernism (The Liturgical Press, 2000).